Altadena Burned Lot Sales Outpace Pacific Palisades

More than half of the burned lots listed in Altadena have been sold so far as activity ramps up across neighborhoods razed by January’s wildfires.

That’s according to Pacific Palisades brokerage owner Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates, who offered an update on real estate supply and demand in fire-impacted areas during a weekly community Zoom meeting Monday.

“It’s [values are] changing every week,” said The Agency’s Jason Bergman, who is based out of Pasadena. “There’s a lot of money circling around. I’ll tell you that.”

The rush of activity comes as more homeowners process the destruction caused by the Palisades and Eaton fires. That’s led to their decisions on whether to go the route of a multi-year community rebuild process or sell lots and move forward more quickly.

Altadena activity is outpacing that of the Pacific Palisades, although pricing in the latter is significantly more.

To illustrate the frenzy that’s now spreading into Pasadena, less than 4 miles south of Altadena, Bergman said his listing at 331 Glen Summer Road went into contract in three days. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom property was listed for $3.2 million and sold for $3.9 million in early March. There was also 2086 Brigden Road in Pasadena, which generated 15 offers and went into contract in less than a week after about 300 buyers attended the open house. Brigden Road, sold in mid-March for $1.6 million, or about 24 percent over the asking price.

“People don’t want to wait years for their homes to be rebuilt,” Bergman said.

If they do want to wait it out, he said, they’re still putting money down on a home now so that when their Altadena property is rebuilt, they’ll list it and remain in their more recent purchase.

For many families looking to buy, Pasadena is a logical move because children in Altadena are already part of the Pasadena Unified School District, Bergman said.

The uptick in demand, coupled with a rise in activity that started pre-wildfires, is feeding into what the agent called “a perfect storm for this area.”

Zooming out, Altadena has seen 152 burned lots enter the market since the fires, with 69 percent of those sold, according to Marguleas.

Altadena’s average land sales price is $697,000, which could explain the demand particularly when compared to the Palisades’ average of $2.7 million, Marguleas said.

In the Palisades, a total of 194 lots have so far been listed with 19 percent of those either in escrow or sold.

The desire to list only seems to be increasing in the community, with 26 lots added to the market in the past two weeks alone, Marguleas pointed out in his presentation. Based on what the market’s seeing currently, the broker projected 110 new lots to be added to the Palisades’ inventory every 30 days until ultimately peaking by the end of this year.

“Because the inventory is picking up, we’re seeing more price reductions,” Marguleas said during this week’s update. “Properties that are priced very well below the market are generating bidding wars and selling fairly quickly. We are suggesting [to] a lot of sellers, to preserve your equity, it’s probably a good idea to put your property on the market sooner, if you are interested in selling. Hopefully you’re not. Hopefully you’re going to stay in the Palisades.”